n. >> welcome back. your money your vote. the president of the united states has been decided. 274 electoral votes for president obama. the president re-elected tonight. >> big headlines of this hour. however, romney camp has not yet con seeded defeat in ohio where many provisional ballots remain uncounted. the popular vote is split directly equal.

>> we want to get the state of play right now. john, let's talk about ohio. this was the deciding vote for the president and of course, just a few minutes ago we heard that the romney camp was not willing to con seed. that in fact, ohio, all of the votes have not been counted and they are not willing to con seed that, in fact, the president won ohio. >> i have returned from the map room. >> yes. we haven't gotten the final tabulation of votes. the romney campaign can refuse to con seed. until colorado and -- you know, the romney campaign can hold out. >> you have been down this road under different administrations and different election nights.

can you walk us through what some of the thinking is on the romney side at this hour knowing what we don't know? >> what they are doing is looking at counties in ohio including coal country where they say mitt romney is out performing george w. bush in 2004. had to retract it. they are not going to -- republicans aren't going make the same mistake again. they're going to fight until the very last vote the counted. >> the popular vote in florida. what's the threshold for an automatic recount? >> it's a half a percent. >> it might be there.

44,7 -- >> on the one hand you have the other states that could make the ohio discussion moot. on the other hand, they, too, could be as sickly as ohio is depending to be. >> if you had that combined with florida being hung up for some prolonged period of time, you could have a problem. i don't expect that to happen. >> i just think you go back. you can speculate on this. but, i want to go back to the other stuff, the fiscal stuff, the economic stuff. look, you have a lame duck session coming. the clock is ticking. there is a hue money gous $500 billion tax hike on the table.

i'm going to assume the president is re-elected. what are we going do right now. before we go into grand designs and huge deals this is the middle of november. you have got six weeks to stop what congressional budget office and every other economist basically says will lead to a recession right now if you don't deal with that. >> look, i mean, i agree with everything. i will add that it's 55 billion on the defense. it's 55 billion on the spending cuts on the defensive side. but look, the disagreement. let's not forget that the disagreement is about the exploration of the upper income bush tax cuts which affect 2% of households. these guys are agreeing on 98% of the revenue picture there.

>> there are also a lot of disagreements about the investment tax rates, the payroll tax. >> if you have got the dividend tax rate? >> i'm not going negotiate with myself. >> i just want to say that we have to see what the president wants to do. we don't know. >> he said there will be no sequestration. >> can you say that for sure? >> he said it.

>> the deal was you kick the can down the road to the point where the can explodes. that's what see questions trags is. that's the deal. it will blow up in your face. >> with the election over, there is an opportunity to breakthrough that. >> the politicians were looking at it from a political perspective. they wanted to win the election and let the elegislation decide how to handle it. >> if one believes that one of the mandates that came out of this is to raise the top tax rates. that will be the going in point. if that is what the president chooses to take here. and then we will have it out. there is going to be a big division in the land. >> i would say from the standpoint of the business community and the high earners that raising that tax rate, having that conversation depends

on one thing and that's being sure that the proceeds. >> if that happen s s. >> if they can't do it, then people are going to take to the streets. >> isn't there an economic growth crisis now? >> chief economic course upon za -- correspondent.

>> i think it's essentially right to say there's not a great huge mandate for president obama going into the lame duck. but elections do have consequences and this was clearly a clash of two ideals. mitt romney said an increase. if these results hold up, that's going to lose. . to go into the negotiations and say look, the people have pretty much spoken on this. the few republicans want to be on the top tax rate eventually you will pay for it. it will happen down the road. i think a little distance from the election. we get closer to the holidays and closer to a period, i do think we get past the fiscal cliff. nobody wants to see that.

>> what were you going to say? >> we have to do something about the debt. i think it's a big problem. >> they sure did pretty well under bill clinton's economic policies. >> bill clinton inherited the economic recovery and bequeathed us a recession. >> i think you have it wrong. >> it would attack the deficit in a way that the president believes is a fairer way to reduce the deficit. there is two choices. reduce spending or raise taxes.

>> nbc news projecting the state of colorado will go to barack obama. >> there you go. >> does that make ohio irrelevant yet? >> if he wins -- have they called iowa and nevada yet? >> they called iowa. >> it's not a growth strategy. >> in my lifetime, and i still got a couple of good years left, will we ever cut spending in this country? >> there is always a reason, it seems to me, in the united states, which is just like europe, never to cut spending.

>> the pentagon is like hhs with metals. let's be serious about it. it is not just submarines and hardware. you want to talk taxes first? i want to talk tax hikes last. and spending cuts. this country, we are running trillion dollar budget deficits. we are running close to 4 trillion dollars spending per year. and no one wants to cut $50 billions.

>> i'm taking larry out of this. the whole conversation about the fiscal cliff is an acknowledgment that stimulus works. >> i don't know how you get there. >> what he is saying is -- >> spending cuts. >> will reduce growth. >> that's the whole point of a fiscal cliff. >> if you lower the spending

share of gdp. you will grow -- >> diana? >> over to you. >> we gave up a great conversation for that. >> let me get your take on the president's cabinet. >> there is a downside with larry. it may be controversial. >> he is on the phone with tim geithner. >> i'm not 100% sure that larry fik would want that job. >> i will tell you for sure. >> larry fik wants the job. that is no doubt in my mind. >> he definitely wants the job.

>> on treasury, the bet something that the current white house chief of why don't you put one of the offices of deals in it. >> not impossible. it could happen. look, let's remember the princeables of simpson bowles. entitlement cuts plus tax increases. >> tax increases.

>> that's what i mean by tax reform. >> that's revenue. >> those two thing s s. >> essentially we seem to be in a megaholding pattern. th crowd still stunned overall that even with a likely challenge to ohio, the headline is barack obama being re-elected president of the united states. we have had no indication how soon at the same time no real

clue as i said as to if and when we will hear from mitt romney. the challenge thing is something in ohio still being held on to. >> waiting for some sort of possible concession speech from governor romney. back to you. >> thanks very much. >> joining us tonight, former house majority leader. good to have you back. good evening to you. >> nice to be with you.

listen, i'm talking to some of my folks on the ground. we have got really really sophisticated activists and they are really upset about the calling of this race with so many -- so much of the vote in the south and southern part of coal mining regions of the state not yet counted. i wouldn't write ohio off yet. i don't think that's settled by any imagination. and given the reports i'm getting out of the state, i don't blame the romney folks for refusing any concession speech on the basis of this premature call. >> are you prepared for the scenario where ohio doesn't count as much? >> you have got see what is happening in the other states. you have florida. i don't think ohio is settled by any means. i certainly think you should not be con seeding the race to barack obama at this point. and a lot of people worked very hard in these areas are not

willing to let their state just be seated over without a full count. you may be here a long time waiting for them to complete that count. >> let's say the president did win re-election. what would be your expectation in terms of, for example, spending on defense and the cuts to come. >> i think there are going be very interesting outcomes here. the republicans did make gains in the house. there will be changes in the democrat leadership in the house. nancy pelosi will probably go away. steny hoyer will probably rise up to that position. it's an easier working relationship. hoyer being more of a deal maker than an idealog. and then you have the president after the disastrous debacle in

libya needs to avoid the sequester than anybody else does. his leadership in national security issues as we saw in libya is so much at question. so he will more eagerly come to the table. you will have a better working relationship. the senate, of course, will remain dysfunctional and harry reed will still stand around with his -- sucking his thumb and trying to figure out what do i do next. the fact of the matter, the agreement will have to be made between the white house and the house of representatives because the senate is just simply dysfunctional. >> would you keep eric as leader? if so does his strategy need to change? >> well, of course, i don't know what the alternatives would be. i certainly think he has done a good job and i know a little bit about that job. but the fact of the matter is

president obama more than anybody else in that town who doesn't know how to come to a table to do negotiations readily prepared, knowing the options, respectful of the point of view of the other people. if the president is simply going to be incape tobl coable to com table with negotiating table and be as rude as he has often been to members of congress, i don't blame eric for the stiff arm. >> good to have you on the program. thanks very much for joining us. we will take a short break. much more coverage on live programming. . from local communities to local businesses.

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♪ >> welcome back to the coverage of your money your vote. al star panels so big we had to build a separate desk for some over there. a big topic in virginia. good evening. >> when the various networks began, the cheers went up here.

you had very high voter turnout and very long lines in two key counties. president obama did carry both of these in 2008. but again this race is still too close to call. northern virginia has been obama heavy of late because it's become more urban. it has become more diverse and more liberal, partially in fact because of a big housing boom. wu again these numbers too close to call. they are voting on jobs and the fiscal cliff. that's what is most important to them. of course in virginia it's all about defense as well. you have the shipbuilding down south. you also have the pentagon here. and the possibility of $50 billion in defense cuts.

>> we were told that those in line at 7:00 would be able to vote we knew that it would be a long night in virginia. we want to get back to our cnbc all stars. keith joins us here. >> just to note that president obama has now become the president re-elected with the highest unemployment rate, 7.9%. we had a discussion, what matters more. he did have that 1 percentage point decline. the economy looked like it was improving into this re-election.

october was better than september. that may have helped him. so to the extent that he barely got over the finish line. certainly looks like it will be that way in the popular vote. i think that momentum may have helped him overcome that huge burden he carried. >> that's a really good point. >> thanks. >> they have had a big night. some of that is to be expected. don't overread. i hope they don't overread that there is a big mandate to go out and raise taxes. people are still more confident in mitt romney in the economy. >> agreed. but the polls did show that a fair majority of americans believed that the economy was

improving. 51% believed the economy was improving. >> you have got to add housing to the mix. the housing market is starting to recover. that's an economic indicator. >> our polling that we do for the cnbc shows that nothing determines more your optimism on the economy than what you believe is going to happen to your housing value. that is the single biggest indicator. >> as those prices climb off the floor you have got. the average refinancing cuts your debt by 2200 bucks a year? >> not to understate the issue but at the same time we have seen business confidence really in the toilet, we have seen consumer confident rise. it's riz on the a level that is high for this period but low by average standards. >> that's the momentum. >> joining us right now the mayor of newark, new jersey, is

with us. good to have you on the program. thanks so much for joining us. the reaction to the results tonight and are you expecting this lock jam that we have been seeing? investors taking to the sidelines? do you think things will losen up? >> i think that the challenges that we have before us are the white house and the legislative branch working together. we have consumer confidence in the united states shaken more from the debt ceiling debate than the 9/11 attacks. we had our debt downgraded as well after that. we have a lot of nonsense going on that is undermining our ability to push forward. obama put together a great jobs program. this nation does believe that this president is pulling this

country forward. now it's really time for the legislature to get themselves together. i'm not a reflexive partisan. i feel sad that a moderate republican is leaving. i feel bad that dick doesn't get re-elected. i feel bad that warn hatch and mccain have to run hard to the right to defend themselves from tea party attacks. most of us are in the pragmatic center. >> but we know how difficult that can be. thinking back to some comments about private equity and how criticism of that should not go overboard. it seemed like he had to walk it back again. >> look, i'm -- newark, new jersey is going through the biggest economic development period. building the first new office towers in years.

population is increasing for the first time. and that's because of bringing everybody together. training people for jobs. everybody woshing together around the same table. i support barack obama because i believe he brings the same spirit. the worst moment of the campaign for me may surprise you but it was one where the ten republican candidates were asked would you do ten dollars of spending cuts for one dollar of revenue raise and all of them said no. it was like we are frigid ideaologists and we do not believe in the pragmatism that 80 ceos of companies have come out and said. so in many ways the nation has said we're elected a pragmatic president and we need a legislature that will lead him in the middle.

we could deal with this in america if we deal with it together. >> maybe. but isn't it on the president to ensure that there is leadership there to lead both parties together to ensure that we do have compromise? if barack obama was not able to do that in the last four years, why should we expect. >> i said this earlier. the party has your exact same demographic. >> we in america are fooling ourselves. >> we need leadership everywhere. every sector. this is a national economy. we have to do certain things.

they are done studying and we kick them out of this country. not realizing how many start-ups. we have so many pragmatic things that we agree on and it will take everybody leaning in saying enough of this petty partisanship. i feel like the president has that spirit but i'm not relying on him. it's going to take all of us. america can be stronger and stronger if we stop letting our politics pull us apart. >> you voted for the president winning re-election. do you think chris christie put the state over the edge in terms of helping the president with his support of the president during hurricane sandy? >> no. chris christie has got a lot of pulls but he could have had a thousand other people pulling with him but there is no way the

state was going to go for mitt romney. it wasn't going to happen. >> it was very clear to me that new jersey, new york, and states like ours would stay in the barack obama column. >> thanks so much. >> we will see you soon. >> phil? >> currently i am joined by will i. am with the black eyed peas. why did you come here tonight? >> i wanted to come here, i was here in 2008. being here in 2008, going to the community that i come from to soak up the inspiration and the energy to go back to that ghetto

that i come from and rinse it out. o give them some sense responsibility individually to change their lives or family's lives and the community. i'm on the mission to bring the skill set to these kids so they can become tomorrow's leaders. i want you to go college and become tomorrow's entrepreneurs. just pay me back by changing our community. >> real quick. how is the atmosphere different tonight than it was in 2008? >> it's the same. >> i don't think it's the same. they're relieved now but it's a different atmosphere. >> i mean it's the same meaning that america is still that united cluster.

we saw a potential symbol of change. not corporations or politics. so that hasn't changed since 2008. >> will i. am, the black eyed peas. proof that politics over at nbc. politics do make strange bedfellows. we have not seen the president's motorcade come here. >> thanks so much. despite the projections at the bottom of your screen. we are still waiting on ohio, virginia, and florida. still waiting on nevada and still waiting to hear from president obama and mitt romney. >> a lot of unknowns. of course nbc news projecting barack obama winning a re-election.

take a short break. we will be right back with more coverage.

nbc news has projected that barack obama has won re-election. just minutes ago the obama camp added the battleground state of colorado. nbc news also projecting democrats retain control in the senate while republicans hold on to the house. >> there were a number of interesting initiatives on state ballots tonight. michelle is looking at the results. >> let's talk about pot. legalization of pot. there are three different states where they were not talking medical marijn. full on legalization of pot as if it were alcohol.

you got to be 21, show id and be subject to duis. colorado has voted yes to legalize pot. and yes is the projected winner in washington state where they, too, have voted to legalize state. we are still waiting to hear from oregon. it looked negative going into the polls. >> and then also saying no, in arkansas. arkansas saying no when it comes to medical marijn. taxation issues in california, two big tax issues.

>> in many, many years. she was behind this. proposition 38. if if you only made $7,000 a year, she wanted your taxes to go up for 12 years to pay for educatio education. we are still waiting to get a more definitive answer there. guys back to you. >> and more on the tax issues in california. >> maria, this has been a huge issue here, because governor brown has said that if his tax hike didn't pass it would mean $6 billion in cuts to education that will happen almost immediately. we will have to see if he makes good on the threats.

he says he has nowhere else to cut. if it does pass, it will make california's highest tax rate the highest in the land. millionaires will have to pay 13.3% state income taxes. it would raise the sales tax and raise anywhere from $35 billion to $50 billion over $100 million in lobbying on both sides went into this proposition. at the moment the state says with 17% of the precincts reporting it is trailing. we still have a long night ahead. >> basically part of the security detail just came along and held up a big five minutes. and then moved on. so that, obviously, roused all

of us to get up and get ready. we are hopeful that we will hear from mitt romney or whoever will be the table setters to get him on stage. you now know what we know. >> any more talk there as far as the romney camp not wanting to con seed the loss in ohio because the votes were not counted fully? >> no, not really. >> we know that there has now been an official, if you will, request, challenge, whatever, in ohio. contesting the outcome there. obviously that would be one of the things we would hope that mitt romney or whoever steps up to the microphone would speak to, especially to these folks that have been waiting for

hours. disappointed, frustrated. as a matter of fact, frankly, some folks were, in fact, leaving. i don't know if that was a catalyst and why all of the sudden it looks like we will hear from someone shortly. >> hampton, thank you so much. want to get back to our cnbc all stars tonight. >> i was just looking at some of the exit polls. there were a couple of key differences and analysis of the campaign. what was the white share of the vote? what was the party i.d. spread? the democratic party, the campaign assumptions were much closer. first of all the white percentage of the vote fell from 74 in 2008 to 72. it continued its fall, the last

generation has fallen. party i.d. spread, plus six for democrats. in 2008, it was plus seven democrats. republican optimism has been founded on the idea that was going to be much lower than that. it was not according to the exit poll so far. >> that is a really interesting fact. that was the whole basis of the debate among pollsters. >> david immediately replied.

>> republicans have raised the level of their game. i don't know if they matched. the ways in which pollsters calculate who is likely to vote was cutting out some of their people. >> if there is one word that will define this campaign it's arithmetic. >> these people are putting on numbers. people were rejecting the facts. i think this has reaffirmed. >> reaffirmed our faith in mathematics. >> let's get to ryan sullivan who has a unique view on how this race has been received. >> i'm not sure if it's that

uniqu unique. so despite the projections, those states ceo after ceo has come on to cnbc saying hey, we're not investing or spending. and question too. we wake up tomorrow despite a year and a half and the gdp of a small nation. republican house. we have got trillions of dollars in deficits down the road. how do we solve those deficits? the federal government, guys, need i remind you, spends 40 million dollars every hour. how do we fix that? >> these are the questions that

we're asking. is the next four years going to be more of a sag nant economy? >> the affordable care act lives on. i know a lot of people around here aren't maybe so happy about that. and perhaps reduces it a lot. >> what did we see in the california vote? americans are dying for higher taxes. >> it is the way america is headed. >> how does the affordable care act cut the deficit? i don't understand. >> it's very simple. there is absolutely no path to a sustainable budget deficit that

doesn't reduce the growth of health care cost. no one who knows the fiscal accounts will disagree with that point. and the affordable care act is scored as doing just that. there are early signs. if it doesn't we have to go wac. >> believe that. >> you have got morning money to put together for tomorrow morning. what's your lead? does the inverse happen instead? >> no, i absolutely don't think that it happens instead. i think corporate america is well positioned to understand that this was going to happen.

the one thing that we haven't talked about is the enthusiasm didn't materialize for a reason and that is because he was not a great candidate. mitt romney did not sell that to people. it did not work out. he was not the message bearer for that. i just want to go back. >> he never made the sale. then, later on in the first debate -- >> i think he -- >> let me finish. he made the sale in the first debate and his numbers sored. in the last week or so, closing arguments, he hardly ever talked about growth. he talked about -- he talked about take-home pay, which is a

good phrase but he never spelled out his business. >> we have got some breaking news. >> the associated press is reporting that apparently we now have it that the romney campaign has called the obama campaign and conceded. >> so mitt romney is expected to speak any minute. romney made the call, conceded the election. there is no contesting it. that story is over because romney has made the call. >> there was also a tape about 47%. >> often for romney it came at very inopportune times.

we see that with candidates who are incredibly wealthy, they just don't feel comfortable going out and talking about growth the way blue color repla and that's what mitt romney did for too much of the time in this race. he held back. he didn't want to have to address the issue directly. >> he backed off of it. >> he had to drop it. >> he didn't trop it. >> he never spoke about it. >> the first debate, the first debate would change the entire race. romney did a great job defending the 20%. >> he absolutely didn't.

>> i think we're -- help me out. >> the exit poll shows that many people made their mind up -- >> they made up their mind before the first debate. the first debate did not change. >> the first debate moved his polls up. >> the first debate certainly helped. he had a five or six point lead. he defending the charge of a 5 tralian dollar tax cut. and he got a lot of independent, too. go and read the transcript and you will see he did. he was inconsistent. he would do it and you wouldn't hear about it. and the last ten days of the campaign.

>> you may have some evidence. you may have some evidence that i haven't seen. i never saw any sign of the public support. >> here comes governor romney right now after calling to concede. let's listen to the governor. [ applause ] >> thank you. thank you. thank you so very much. thank you. thank you. i have just called president obama to congratulate him on his vibtry. his supporters and his campaign also deserve congratulations. i wish all of them well, but particularly the president and the first lady and their daughters. this is a time of great

challenges for america and i pray that the president will be successful in guiding our nation. [ applause ] i want to thank paul ryan for all that he has done for our campaign [ applause ] and for our country. besides my wife ann, paul is the best choice i have ever made. [ applause ] and i trust that his intellect and his hard work and commit tomt principle will continue to contribute to the good of our nation. [ applause ] i also want to thank ann, the love of my life. [ applause ] she would have been a wonderful first lady.

[ applause ] she has been that and more to me and to our family and to the many people that she has touched with her compassion and her care. i thank my sons for their timeless work on behalf of the campaign and thank their wives and children for taking up the slack as their husbands and dads have spent so many weeks away from home. [ applause ] i want to thank matt rhodes and the dedicated campaign team he led. they have made an extraordinary effort not just for me, but also for the country that we love. and to you here tonight and to the team across the country, the f volunteers, i don't believe there has ever been an effort in our party that can compare to what you have done over these

past years. thank you so very much. thank for all the hours of work, for the calls and speeches. performed magnificently and you inspired us and you humbled us, you have been the very best we could have imagined. the nation, as you know, is at a critical point. we can't risk partisan bickering and political posturing. our leaders have to reach across the aisle to do political work and we citizens have to rise to the occasion. we look to teachers and professors. we count on you not just to teach but to inspire. we look to pastors and priests and rabis to testify to the principles on which our society is built. we look to our parents from the final analysis, everything

depends on the success of our homes. we look to job creators of all kinds. we're counting on you to invest, to hire, to step forward. we look to democrats and republicans at all levels to put the people before the politics. i believe in america. i believe in the people of ameri america. [ applause ] and i ran for office because i'm concerned about america. this election is over. but our principles endure. i believe that the principles upon which this nation was founded are the only sure guide to a resurging economy and to